Broken Lodges War
The Broken Lodges War was a series of battles and skirmishes between the Broken Lodges tribe of Colorado and Caesar's Legion between 2278 and 2279. Prelude After taking Denver from the Hangdog tribe in autumn of 2278, Caesar sent Legion scouts into the Colorado Basin to investigate Hangdog claims about the Broken Lodges. The scouts were intercepted by a Broken Lodge hunting party in the spruce forests surrounding the main Broken Lodges camp. The Legion scouts were entirely foreign to the Broken Lodges, so they were immediately met with justified hostility; unknown peoples were in their territory and being a warlike tribe, the Broken Lodges did not delay attack when communications proved fruitless. A Broken Lodge flung a tomahawk at a frumentarius and a brief skirmish ensued. The hunting party killed two scouts as they fled, but the frumantarius managed escape and returned to Denver with the news that the Broken Lodges were volatile and unstable; such a powder keg was unsuitable for Caesar's Legion. Therefore, Caesar ordered the extermination of the Broken Lodges. The chiefs of the newly conquered tribes were given the task of conducting the war, as a test of their mettle and worth on the battlefield. War What proceeded was five months of off and on skirmishes. Caesar's forces were supplemented by the newly conquered Hangdog, Platte and Cimarron tribes, who attempted to win the war through attrition. However, the Broken Lodges were more experienced conducting war in the winter, and were victorious against many Legion engagements. In the Battle of Jagged Slope, the Platte organized an assault on the bighorner herds that lived on the alpine slopes. Their goal was to exterminate the Broken Lodges food supply and starve the Broken Lodges into surrender. Unprepared by the freezing inclement weather and brutal windstorms, the Platte war parties were easily driven off by the Broken Lodges with heavy casualties. At the Battle for Steaming Creek, Platte and Cimarron warriors attempted to block off the flow Steaming Creek, a tributary of the Blue River based at a mountain hot spring that flowed even during the winter months. While initially successful in damming the stream, the blockade was destroyed a mere week later, having only minorly inconvenienced the Broken Lodges. The Broken Lodges continued repelling Legion assaults, but in February of 2279, the war took a turn for the worse. At the Battle of Cedar Crest, Cimarron, Platte, and Hangdog warriors wiped out 90% of the Broken Lodge scouts that had been stationed there to observe Legion movements. The assault distracted them from the saboteurs that approached from behind and burned the Cedar Crest Lookout to the ground. Despite the Broken Lodges' resolve and stubbornness to be defeated, they were losing vital territory within the Basin. The strategy of attrition the newly assimilated tribes were attempting took too long for Caesar's taste; he deemed the tribe's efforts to be fruitless and ordered each of their decimations after Centurion Iratus of Albuquerque took over the campaign and executed Caesar's will properly. Broken Lodges Massacre After the Cedar Crest Lookout was destroyed, it was difficult for the Broken Lodges to coordinate where warriors were to engage or non-combatants were to evade. By March of 2279, the Broken Lodges were complete encapsulated at the main lodges of The Basin. This ultimately culminated in a full fledged siege on the lodges and the massacre of the Broken Lodges, including warriors, shamans, children and the elderly. Without the Broken Lodges to prevent any expansion, Ceasar's Legion gained control of the Blue River, a tributary of the Colorado. The Hangdog's, Cimarron's and Platte's weakest warriors were then decimated by the strongest warriors, handpicked by Centurion Iratus as observed during the duration of the war. In the end, The Basin was sacked, burned to the ground and left to be forgotten. Category:Kastera1000 Category:Events